Queen Mab Reigns

I always have such good intentions when it comes to crafts.  It's such a family joke that whenever someone says, "I could make that", we all laugh at them.  My basement is full of boxes of art and craft supplies and patterns purchased with good intentions.  But the road to hell is paved with superwash yarn and mosaic garden paver kits.  Speaking of superwash yarn though, I actually finished a craft project today that I wanted to share with you because it is so quick, easy, and satisfying.  I finished it in one park playdate and one after-the-kids-are-in-bed time.  It's THAT quick. 

It's a Waldorf play crown.  Some of you may be thinking hotels and apple salad, but in this context Waldorf is referring to the educational approach.  It's Montessori's long haired hippie cousin.  They really emphasize imagination and fantasy during the preschool years.  They also value simple, high quality toys made from natural materials - but who doesn't?  So, long story short, a knitted wool crown becomes infinitely more hip when you call it a "Waldorf Play Crown".  Call it what you want, my kids love it.

The pattern is available for free over at Tangled.  Pamela there did a year of free patterns for 2010 and this crown was November's offering.

So, if your kids are bored this summer, maybe all they need is a few crowns to get those imaginative juices flowing.  Pair one of these with some flower fairy wings a la The Artful Parent and who knows what might happen...

"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.

She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes

In shape no bigger than an agate-stone

On the fore-finger of an alderman.."

Flats Challenge Day 4: Noso Glory

This is a week of bloggy firsts. First time blogging daily for a whole week, first blog challenge, first guest bloggers, and now my first vlog!

Flats Challenge Day 2: Homemade Love

It's Day #2 of the Flats and Handwashing Challenge and I'm definitely feeling the flat love. Only one leak yesterday, but I was really pushing the diapers to the limit so I think that was pretty awesome. I was even able to use one small, thin, Child of Mine flat all by itself with no leaks with a kite fold (though it was SOAKED under the cover). Very impressive.

It's So Campy!

Next on my to-do list is making a manual washer or "camp washer".  When I've taken flat diapers up to the Boundary Waters before, I did my washing by just soaking in a bin and scrubbing by hand.  Worked just dandy but it was a bit hard on my hands.

But the fabulous folks over at DirtyDiaperLaundry.com have posted a how-to video for a simple camp washer made out of a 5 gallon bucket and a plunger.  Seeing as how I've been so wicked crafty lately, I thought I'd also try being handy.

And since any task is more fun with a friend, a cloth-loving-flat-challenge-buddy came over to help me and also make her own manual washer.

Crafty Bitch

Bazinga!  I am ONE CRAFTY BITCH!  Yes, I mean that in a calculating, clever, and foxy way but ALSO like this...

I made those cute baby leggings/pants from an old sweater.

This morning.

Before breakfast.

Unfortunately it doesn't have enough wool in it to be a waterproof diaper cover, but it's still super cute.  I used this pattern and it couldn't have been simpler.  Next time i'll scrounge up a wool sweater so it can be cute AND functional.

Also yesterday I was working on these pennants for a birthday decoration banner for Ivy's party - not quite done, but almost.  Some of them also feature pieces of that same sweater.  You know, I'm not sure who that sweater belongs to.  It's not my sweater.  Hmmmm...  It was in a bag marked with big black marker "GARAGE SALE" though so that's my defense if my mom or sister comes looking for it.

Oh, and also I made that baby in the picture above.  Bazinga.

Chocolate Nut Balls

I tried and tweaked a new recipe today.  Vegan chocolate nut balls.  I know, it needs a new name (got any ideas?).  As usual, Violet loved it and the boys were so-so about it.  Violet is really taking to all these new foods and flavors much better than the boys.  Probably because she is so young.  I thought they were pretty tasty too so here they are for you...

Mama's Vegan Chocolate Nut Balls


Ingredients:
Cookie dough:

• 1 3/4 cups ground raw cashews
• 3/4 cup ground oats
• 1/4 cup Agave Nectar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• Flake coconut

Chocolate chips:

• 2 Tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 5 Tablespoon agave nectar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Dough: Grind up raw cashews and raw oats in a food processor or blender. I did mine in my coffee grinder, which worked but probably wasn't good for the grinder.  Place all wet cookie dough ingredients into a large bowl and mix well. Add dry ingredients except coconut and mix more.  Refrigerate dough.

Chips: Mix all chocolate chip ingredients together in a medium sized bowl except cocoa powder. Add the cocoa powder and mix well.  Roll the dough out onto parchment paper and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
When the chocolate is frozen, cut into chips. I used a pizza cutter but you can use whatever.  Mix chips into dough.  Roll dough into balls of whatever size you'd like (I like mine bite-sized but then you have to roll a ton of them).  Roll the balls in coconut.

Place in fridge to harden.

Mitch said he mostly didn't like the chocolate chips (they have a dark chocolate flavor) because they were too bitter for him.  He wanted me to make some without the chips.  I'll try that for him, and i'll also try making the chips sweeter for him too or maybe just using our store-bought GFCF chocolate chips that I know he likes.  Or maybe I should just chalk this up as another failed food experiment.  I figure if Mitch won't eat it, what's the point?  He's the reason we're doing this whole thing in the first place! Grrrrrrr...

My Little Knit-Wit

Last year at school Mitchell decided he wanted to take the knitting classes they were offering (alot of boys in his class were in it).  He tried it, he made half a scarf, and then decided he doesn't like knitting.  Now I crochet, but I don't knit, so when he was coming to me for help, I had none to give.  I looked up some knitting videos on youtube though and was able to help him muddle through well enough.  But anyways, knitting wasn't for him.  We had borrowed some knitting needles from a friend and she called looking to get them back (her boys had renewed interest in knitting).  I looked up a binding off video on youtube and finished off that short scarf of Mitch's so I could give the needles back.  While I was doing that though, Henry was watching me pretty intently.

"Mama, would you teach ME to knit?", he asked.

I told him he was too young, he protested, so I said FINE and showed him a basic stitch.  Much to my surprise, he was actually pretty good at it!  And he liked it!  He makes alot of mistakes, but he makes alot of progress too.  We've had some pretty nice moments this week sitting on the couch while I read and nurse the baby and he knits next to me in case he needs help (that's my book behind his head in the picture - "A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder" by Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman - an excellent read).

Another GFCF hit! Rhubarb Crumb Cake

So - to assist us on our journey of GFCF living, we've bought a share from a local CSA this year.  Actually we're splitting a half-share with my mother since I wasn't sure if we would be able to be very successful using all those new fruits, veggies, and herbs.  We got our first box of produce last Monday, the second round is coming today, and we've had a great week of new recipes.  We tried quinoa for the first time this week.  Grandma made 2 different quinoa recipes, one of which was just so-so but the other was delicious.  Unfortunately the kids were not loving the quinoa.  It was really tasty though, so i'll post it later for you anyways after I get it from Grandma.

We've got lots of lettuce from the CSA, with more to come this week, but unfortunately our old standby dressings (ranch and western) are no longer options for us.  So I bought three different GFCF organic dressings from the store and we sampled them.  I liked the Annies Lemon and Chive, nobody liked the raspberry vinaigrette I bought, but we struck a chord with the third dressing - Annies Poppy and Papaya.  It had a very similar sweet taste to western (but better!) and it was orange like western (important when convincing kids).  Henry and Violet both ate it up but we were 0 for 3 Mitch.  We'll try some more dressings next time I go to the store.  Mitch loves salad so we need to find something he can slather on his greens.

Another thing they liked was the rhubarb crumb cake I made this morning.  It wasn't especially healthy (2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup shortening!) but did have some positive ingredients (multi-grain drink, rhubarb, nuts, coconut) so it's a treat I can feel good about giving them.  Again though, Mitch didn't like it, while the other two scarfed it up.  Oh well, we'll keep trying, and that's fine with me because all these new recipes are fun!

GFCF Rhubarb Cake (I'd like to ditch the shortening - any good substitutions you know of?)

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour 
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole grain drink (would also work with rice or soy drink)
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cups finely chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb

Topping:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

• In a bowl, cream shortening and 1-1/2 cups brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl;  In another separate bowl combine multigrain drink and lemon juice; add to creamed mixture alternately with flour mixture. Fold in rhubarb.
• Spread into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. For topping, combine brown sugar and cinnamon; stir in coconut and chopped pecans. Sprinkle over batter. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. 

Enjoy!

What the heck is THAT??!!!

I have been hearing this particular phrase fairly frequently lately.

In an effort to find a way to help Mitch cope with his ADHD symptoms without medication we have been trying a sort of elimination diet.  Depending on who you listen to, children with ADHD can benefit from a variety of diet related changes.  Homeopathic detox remedies; casein and gluten free diets; eliminating HFCS and all artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives; identifying food sensitivites and avoiding the offending foods: all of these are on the list.  And depending again on who you listen to, these changes may need to be followed very strictly to show any benefits at all, or just vaguely avoiding these things can help quite a bit.  One never knows where to start.

What we've decided to do is this:  a casein and gluten free diet seems to be pretty widely regarded as a good place to start for kids with ADHD so we are trying to be very strict on this one.  Additionally, we are also trying to keep his intake of HFCS and artificial ingredients very low.  Soy and white potatoes have also been identified as possible culprits for Mitch so those are things we're keeping low.  And of course, too much white sugar isn't good for anyone so that also is something we're avoiding.

So once you remove all those things, what is there left to eat?!  As it turns out, plenty, but many are things we've never tried before like dates, rice milk, quinoa, garbanzo beans, and grits.  I've been pretty surprised at how receptive the kids have been to trying new things and how many of the new things they are liking.  Yes, I said kids (plural) because if you try to give one person something that no one else is getting, that is just a recipe for a brawl in our house.

The first morning we tried this diet we offered Mitchell gluten free granola with rice milk while the other kids had their usual cheerios with honey and milk.  Whooo!  THAT was a mistake!  Henry and Violet were yelling because Mitch was getting "a special breakfast" and Mitch was yelling because "I hate rice milk!  No fair - they get real milk!".  I dumped out all the cheerios and served gluten free granola with rice milk all around and breakfast ended up a success.  Mitch tried the rice milk (he was hating it before tasting it) and discovered he actually liked it and the little kids were thrilled to also get the special breakfast.  So ever since then its been the family diet for the most part.  When Mitch is around we all stick together and eat together.  When he isn't around the regular rule we have of "Different people at different times and different places get different things" goes into effect.  I think it's been good for everyone.  Even my husband has been branching out beyond his basic meat and potatoes and mountain dew diet.

Here's a decent recipe for gluten and casein free white chili that all the kids like (but not until after saying "What the heck is that?  We HATE chili!!!").  It's a little bland, but that's why the kids like it.  Any suggestions on how the grown ups can kick up the flavor a bit would be most welcome.

White Chili

1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 cooked chicken breasts, cubed
1 can white corn, drained
1 can cannelini beans (white kidney beans), drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can green chilis
2 cans GFCF chicken broth

Saute onion and garlic in oil until tender in a large stock pot.  Add the rest and simmer 30 minutes.

Enjoy!